Tales of Eruditia
by Nemorian
Summary: The Inferia and Celestia Complexes are the last bastions of life on Eternia, connected and maintained through the Orbis Network. However, someone is taking control of Orbis, and their actions threaten to destroy everything left on Eternia. AU
1. Problematic Programming

Keele stared at his laptop, typing lines of code furiously as he attempted his fourth take on a new program. The last three ended in an explosion, the fire system being triggered even though it didn't explode, and a small twister being created in his room respectively, but he wasn't one to just give up from a few little problems. He'd have it complete first, no matter what it took. No way was his best friend and rival going to show him up again. Not this time.

The console he was sitting by chirped, the screen on the wall informing him of an incoming call. Letting reflexes take over, he slapped the disconnect button and resumed his work. Now wasn't the time to talk to idiots. It chirped again and he responded in the same manner. After the third call in a row, it stayed quiet. Thinking he'd finally won some peace, he was proven wrong not two minutes later as the screen lit up without a sound of waiting for confirmation, and a girl's voice blared into the room as if the volume was set to the maximum.

"Keele needs to stop disconnecting Meredy!" It yelled, and Keele's chair fell to the ground with him as he tried to jump to the side in a panic.

Cursing and making sure his laptop was still in one piece, he stood back up and glared at the monitor. The girl with dark skin and purplish hair tied up into pigtails giving him a look somewhere between angry, amused and pouty. "Damn it Meredy, I was in the middle of something! How am I supposed to beat you if you keep interrupting me?!"

Meredy's face was all pout after his outburst. "Meredy can't help it if she likes Keele and doesn't want him to blow his hands off..."

"So you hack into my communications and..." He trailed off, blinking at her and lowering his voice. "...wait, blow my hands off? What are you talking about?"

Looking down and pushing a few buttons Keele couldn't see on the monitor, the screen split vertically, Meredy's face moving to the left side. On the right, a girl with a similarly dark skin tone and very short blonde hair appeared.

"Hi, Keele. Sorry about the interruption, but it really is important." She said, grinning nervously.

"Chat?" He stared for a moment, then scowled. "What did you do this time?"

Chat's face went a little red. "W-What do you mean by that?! You say that like I screw up on a regular basis or something!"

"Maybe not with repairs, but anything new you make has more annoying problems than a calculus class. What's wrong with _this_ design?"

She looked off to the side. "Well, the wrist setup isn't as handy as I thought. Once I actually made one it turned out to be too heavy, the dials were in the wrong place and the only way I could figure out how to actually keep it from falling off was to permanently bind it to the wearer."

"It overloads easy, too. Boom. Bye-bye hand." Meredy added.

Keele's face paled as he looked at the one he had been putting together from Chat's schematics and was very glad he was more focused on getting the program done than the hardware. "Good thing you noticed that before either of us tried to use it. What's the new plan then?"

"Okay, going by what was wrong with the impact problems of the ball, and other issues on the wrist, helmet and glove prototypes, I think I finally got one that'll work like a charm." Chat explained, a steady clicking joining her voice. "I've been able to compact it down to the bare essentials, so it can give you what you're after and have no chance of the system itself exploding. Check it out."

A window popped up between the two faces, the schematic for a device that was shaped vaguely like a long, thin pendant that wouldn't even be as long as someone's hand. Keele raised an eyebrow at it. "That's it? It's tiny compared to everything else you've given us."

Chat gave him a cocky smirk. "What can I say? I'm a genius with technology."

"Oh yeah, that's why it took you this long to get it right." Keele muttered sarcastically. "I think you just got enough practice from the previous ones to actually know what the hell you're doing this time."

"You don't have to be a jerk about it." She grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Right." He said, focused on the schematics. "After your 'MON', 'PIP', 'MEGA' and 'YGO' prototypes, what crazy name did you give this one?"

Chat frowned at him. "I went with something simple this time... just to keep you from complaining. This one's called CAGE."

-----

After getting the schematics copied and a list of the supplies he would need to make Chat's new CAGE, Keele thanked them, before promptly hitting the disconnect button and resuming to work on his program. He didn't get more than three lines before someone knocked on his door.

Eye twitching and ready to throttle the first person he saw, he set aside his laptop, going over to unlock and open the door. When it slid aside, he was face-to-face with not only the last person he wanted to see, but one of the few people he couldn't try to strangle. The uniform made sure of that.

The security woman glared at him from beneath her green bangs. "You're causing problems _again_ Keele? Can't say I'm shocked, but I am tired of dealing with you."

"Officer Orsted." He replied in an obviously forced polite tone, giving her a nod.

"Drop the formalities. We've got enough of a working relationship and history I think I can handle a first name basis."

"Alright, Farah." Keele folded his arms over his chest and returned her glare. "In that case, would you just tell me what circumstances have not only interrupted my work but also caused me to be in your very unpleasant company again today?"

She held up her hand, a pair of handcuffs dangling from her finger. "What do you think?"

Looking at them for a moment, he sighed. "Sorry, I'm not into that kinda thing. Try the neighbor." He said simply, before closing and locking the door on her. Not that it would do any good, it was the gesture that mattered.

The door unlocked and opened again, Farah walking inside as she pocketed her security access card. "Damn it, Keele. I'm in no mood to deal with your crap today! Just come with me down to the station and explain why there was a hacking alert from your residence."

"Hacking alert...? Oh for..." Keele rubbed his forehead, getting a headache. "I can tell you that without even leaving the room. Meredy did it."

"Meredy." Farah replied plainly. "That girl you're in contact with, who doesn't even _live_ in the Inferia Complex, hacked into the Orbis Network's communications through _your_ terminal."

"She knows how to fake a source location."

"My ass."

"Is lovely. Now are we done here?"

"Here, yes." Farah slapped a cuff around Keele's right wrist. "The Captain will settle this at the station."

"Damn it, I don't have time to waste with this bull- SHIT!" Keele yelled as he tried to step away, only to trip over some of the parts laying on his floor. He grabbed at Farah, but instead of stopping himself they both landed on the ground in a heap.

"You never can come quietly, can you?" Farah grumbled, pushing herself up and feeling a tug on her left wrist. The second cuff was latched onto it. She grinned. "Now you don't have a choice."

He looked at the attached cuffs and shrugged. "Alright, if you're that hell-bent on it, have your way with me. Just make it quick, I have work to do."

Farah scowled at him, stood up and jerked him to his feet. "Shut up. Ever since we were kids you've been making vulgar jokes." She said, dragging him out of the apartment and locking the door behind them.

"In my defense, you're the only person I make them with." Keele said, falling into step beside her as they walked down one of the residential corridors.

"I'm flattered." She replied, her voice overflowing with sarcasm.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not some kind of strange method of hitting on you, I only do it because I know how much it annoys the crap out of you."

She stopped, pulling on the handcuffs and forcing Keele to face her. "Why the hell do you like making me angry then?!"

"I don't. I just prefer you mad over depressed."

"Depressed...?" She thought about it for a moment, then turned and quickly started walking again. "My God, Keele... that's why? It's been seven years. I'm over that."

"Yeah, right." Keele said skeptically. "Yet your voice still gets shaky when it's brought up."

"Shut up." She muttered, keeping her eyes on the path ahead as they left the residential area and began passing through a central corridor lined with various shops and restaurants.

"You really need to figure out how to come to terms with it. I mean, I did... sure, it might have been easier for me since I never really got along very well with the guy, but Reid's-"

Farah rounded on him. "Shut UP! I'm on the job, not a social visit! You're being arrested, again, and bringing up ancient history! What part of 'you have the right to remain silent' don't you understand?!"

"I understand it fine. It's a right, not a requirement." Keele replied plainly.

"You irritating son of a-" Farah's curse died as the lights suddenly did, leaving them and everyone else in the corridor cloaked in darkness. A few panicked voices came from all around them and Farah groaned. "Now what?"

There was a flash of light and deafening boom as one of the shops further down the hallway exploded. Screams echoed through the corridor and after a moment of horror Farah bolted toward the resulting chaos, dragging the cuffed Keele along behind her.


	2. A Simple Question

Staring into the flames that now danced throughout the shop, he counted the charred bodies that lay on the floor. Five... six... maybe eight, plus whatever were still engulfed in the fire. Maybe a dozen total, if he was lucky. He closed his eyes and sighed. No, not if he was lucky... if he had been, nobody would have died.

Catching sight of a security officer rushing over to help who was, for some reason, handcuffed to a scruffy teen with a blue ponytail, he quickly turned and walked away from the destruction. There was nothing else he could do here, and being noticed would just raise questions that didn't need to be asked, and would most likely end in even more death. That had to be avoided, no matter what.

Sliding his hands into his pockets and stalking off into the darkness, his voice came out as a low growl. "I _will_ stop you, no matter what."

* * *

Her feet propped up on the table and chair resting on the two back legs, Meredy chewed absent-mindedly on a wad of bubble gum as she hummed along with the lyrics coming out of her headphones and tapped the keyboard on her laptop in time with the beat.

On the other side of the room, Chat was sitting on the couch and piecing together a CAGE prototype. "Hey, Meredy?"

Meredy leaned her chair further and tilted her head back, looking upside-down at her friend and blowing a bubble.

"Do you think it's fair for me to be helping you with this?" Chat wondered, tightening one of the miniscule screws. "I thought you and Keele were having a competition to see who could get done first."

"Yup! Keele's a programmer like Meredy, he needs help on the mechanical stuff too!" She said brightly, somehow without the inflated gum bursting.

"Are you sure? I mean, you've introduced him to me, but I've never even heard him mention anyone else in the Inferian Complex. Does he even know an engineer?"

The bubble popped and Meredy stared at her for a few moments before speaking. "Chat thinks... Keele doesn't have any friends?"

"I don't know. He sure doesn't seem like the social type to me... and you haven't heard him mention anyone else, have you?"

Meredy's chair dropped back onto four legs as she took her feet off the table and set aside the laptop. Striding over to the large console on the wall, she began pushing buttons.

"Um... what are you doing?"

"Going to ask if Keele has friends." She replied simply, bringing up the phone menu and selecting the first name on the list.

"You can't just ask someone that!" Chat exclaimed. "Especially not someone that grouchy!"

"Yup. Easy question, just four words." Meredy said as the ringer chirped a few times.

"That's not what I mean! It's-"

Keele's face flickered onto the screen and before Chat could stop her, Meredy blurted out; "Does Keele have friends?"

There was a second of silence before Keele spoke. "This is Keele Zeibel's residence, I'm either not home right now or ignoring any calls. If this is Meredy, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If it's Chat, I will too, since it's probably regarding a mechanical fix and I'd rather not get blown up _again_. If it's Farah, most likely calling to accuse me of something, I would like to state here and now that whatever it was, I _didn't_ do it and you need to stop blaming me for every little problem. If you're someone else... you probably have the wrong number and are a complete idiot to have listened this long. That is all." The screen flicked to black with "Would you like to leave a message?" written in green flashing in the center.

Pressing no, Meredy turned and grinned at Chat. "Farah."

Chat shrugged. "Okay, he knows someone called Farah, it sure didn't sound like she was a friend though."

Frowning, she turned back to the console and punched in another set of commands. A two-dimensional top-down map of the Inferia Complex appeared on the screen, though if it wasn't for the name in the top left corner, it would have been impossible to tell the difference since it had the same design as Celestia. Meredy tapped the screen and it zoomed in on a residential section.

"What is all this?" Chat asked, joining her at the console for a better look.

"Inferia security map readout, Meredy can see where everyone in the Complex is in real time. See?" She pointed to a room on the map with two dots in it. "This is Keele's room."

"This can't be legal... though it explains why he didn't answer... he has company. Guess you were right, Meredy, he does have a friend."

She nodded, thought for a moment, then a sly grin crossed her face and she began typing in more commands.

"What are you doing...?" Chat asked nervously, knowing it was never a good sign when her friend got that look on her face.

"Meredy wants to see Keele's friend and test her new security camera hack."

"Hack? Hold on a second! I don't want to be caught up in your illegal activities! I've got a reputation to think of!"

"Meredy isn't doing anything bad, she's just curious. Here!" A window popped up on the screen, showing Keele on the floor of his apartment under a woman in a security uniform, his voice coming from the speakers.

"...you're that hell-bent on it, have your way with me. Just make it quick, I have..."

Chat's face went bright red and she smacked the disconnect button on sheer instinct, making the sound and picture vanish. "Oh yeah, he _definitely_ has a friend."

Meredy continued to stare at the screen with a look of shock on her face and her mouth hanging open just enough that the gum in it was threatening to topple out onto the floor. "Not the first..." She mumbled, walking over to her laptop and dropping back onto the chair by it. "Meredy wasn't the first..."

"Are you okay, Meredy? I mean, I know you said you liked this guy, but... he lives in the other Complex. Not exactly relationship material." Chat tilted her head as Meredy closed her current coding project and began working on something new. "Meredy?"

"Meredy has to know who was the first and tell Keele." She said simply, tapping away on her keyboard.

"Okay, you're starting to creep me out a little. Hacking into security systems is one thing, but you know stalking is bad too, right?" Chat waited for a few seconds, but got no reply. "Meredy!"

"Baiba!" Meredy exclaimed, putting her laptop back down and getting up again. "Please Chat, Meredy needs time alone. She can't focus and talk, finding the first is important!"

Chat wanted to argue, but decided against it. There was just no making the girl see reason once she was set on doing something. "Alright... I'll let you work for now. Let me know what you find?"

"OK!" She said brightly, grabbing her laptop and going over to the couch.

Heading out of the apartment, Chat sighed as the door closed behind her. "Meredy's my best friend and Keele might come off as a jerk, but having her fixation isn't a fate I'd wish on anyone. Poor guy."

A man's voice chimed in."Ah, so our eccentric genius has herself a little crush?"

Chat jumped a little, taking note of the muscular, green-haired man that was nearly twice her height. "Geez, don't sneak up on me like that, Max!"

Max just laughed. "Sorry, sorry. Wasn't trying to scare you."

"Yeah, right." She muttered, having gotten surprised by him so often that she knew he couldn't be doing it by accident anymore. "I'd say it's more of a little obsession than a crush, you know Meredy can get."

"Yeah." Max grinned. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Chat gave him a shrug. "Doesn't matter, he lives in the Inferia Complex. She's getting worked up over nothing."

"A long-distance relationship, eh?" Max scratched his short beard thoughtfully, then gave her a wink. "You'd be surprised, with the right person and motivation, those sorts of things can really pay off."

She arched a questioning eyebrow at him, but he didn't elaborate, choosing instead to turn and head off down the corridor.

"I'm starved! Care to join me for a bite to eat, Chat? My treat!" He called back.

Giving his back a frustrated look, Chat hurried after him. "Alright, but you better not start talking with your mouth full again! I needed a shower after the last time!"

* * *

"Not right. Not right at all." Meredy mumbled to herself over the rapid clicking of her keyboard and rough chewing of her gum. "Meredy should have been first... maybe second... but third? No, not right... Meredy has to find them, talk to them, stop them if she can. Even by force if she must. For Keele."


	3. Flip of a Switch

"OW! Farah, would you slow down? I'm nowhere near as fast as you!" Keele complained as he struggled to keep the security officer's pace.

Farah ignored him, all of her attention on the fire and panic ahead. At the edge of the scorched floor she crouched down to check on one of the people caught in the blast, but couldn't find a pulse. Cursing and starting toward the next one, her arm was jerked back by the wrist, the metal cuff around it digging into her skin. She glared at Keele, who was staying put and giving her a hard look.

"Keys, Farah. Get me out of these things." He said sternly, holding up his cuffed hand.

"You know I can't do that, you're under arrest. Now move!" She yanked on his arm, but he still refused to budge.

"Damn it, Farah! Think! Neither of us will be useful to these people if we're restricted like this!" He snapped back. "What do you think I'm going to do, use the chance to run away from you? Even if you didn't overrun and catch me again right away you know where I live and we're in a sealed complex! Where the hell would I go? Now take these damn things off so I can help!"

Farah stared at him for a moment. She'd known him a long time, and he might have been a weak, blunt, coward... but he usually did help whenever someone needed it. Even if his ideas weren't the first method of "helping" that came to most people's minds. "Fine, I need all the hands I can get." She took the keyring from her pocket and swiftly unlocked the cuff around his wrist.

It was barely off when he bolted down the corridor and away from the flaming shop. She was dumbstruck at his action a moment before screaming in frustration. "Damn you, Keele! Next time I catch you I am _not_ going to be _gentle_!"

Turning back to the ruined shop, she hurried over to one of the fire extinguishers mounted on the wall, yanking it free and taking aim at the nearest burning section of floor. Nothing happened when she pulled the trigger. Staring at it for a second, she shook the nozzle and rapidly squeezed the handle in a vain attempt to get it to work.

"Come on, damn it! What's wrong with this thing?" She shouted, ready to bash it over something. "This fire has to be put out bef..." Blinking as a thought crossed her mind, she looked up. The lights were still out, but now that she thought about it, the fire suppression systems were on a separate generator. If they weren't coming on, and the manual extinguishers weren't working either... then...

"No way..." Farah mumbled, her voice shaking. As much as she didn't want to believe such a thing, it was the only possibility she could come up with. There was just no way everything could go this wrong by simple coincidence. "...my God, someone in the complex set this up."

"Not going to be gentle... she was gentle before? Could have fooled me." Keele grumbled to himself as he rounded the corner, the light from the small flashlight he always carried in his small tool kit bobbing up and down as he ran. Finally coming to his door, he slapped the open button and headed inside, coming to a dead stop just on the other side.

"What the hell?" He wondered, looking over his shoulder at the open door. If the power was out, it shouldn't have opened. Unless...

Going over to the wall console and pushing a couple buttons, the screen flickered to life. "The power is still on?" Keele grabbed his laptop off the table and the waterproof case for it that was hanging on his chair, mind racing as he darted out the door and back to where he'd parted with Farah. He'd have liked to just take care of the problem there, not to mention catch his breath, but unless Farah actually SAW him do something, she'd probably remain convinced he'd just run off.

Wheezing by the time he got back, he saw Farah trying to smother the fire with a blanket but only succeeding in both fanning the flames and igniting the cloth in her hands. Rolling his eyes at the display of Inferia's top-notch security force at work, he flipped open his laptop and began working his way into certain restricted areas of the Orbis Network.

"Keele?" Farah exclaimed after stomping out the flaming cloth she had been waving around. Rushing over, she pointed an accusing finger at him. "How the hell could you leave like that? You said you wanted to help!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Keele asked, tapping a few buttons.

"Screwing around with your computer by the look of..." She stepped up beside him, taking one look at the screen and fumbling her words. "...wha... but... Keele! That's the security force's map! You're not supposed to have access to that!"

"Security's security needs some upgrades then." He said simply, pointing to the map. "I had to check this first. Look."

Farah examined it for a moment, not sure what he was getting at, then realized the section that was showing was in and around the shop that was still burning. On the outside were two dots, them. In the back room of the shop, trapped, were four more little dots. "There's still someone left alive in there? We have to-"

"No, you have to shut up. Now that I know they're in there, I also know not to trigger the air syphon. It may kill the flames faster, but it'd do the same to them, so..." Snatching the scorched cloth out of Farah's hand, he whipped it up over both of their heads and his laptop before pushing the button. There was a clicking sound from overhead, and the sprinkler system came to life.

Hoping enough of the downpour was delayed by the cloth even though it was still dripping through, Keele closed his laptop and stowed it inside the case before it got a short circuit from the water. Lifting up the cloth for a look at the situation, the fires were still burning, but not for long. The swiveling heads and sensors of the sprinklers were obviously still in working order, since the nearest ones oriented on the fire and doused it with near-flawless precision.

Throwing the cover aside, Farah dashed forward and past the dying fires into the shop. Sighing at her reckless action, he glanced at the other people that appeared in the rapidly dying firelight. Half a dozen of them, all with uniforms like Farah's.

Keele scowled at the lot of them. "You're late. That means I get a free pizza, right?"

The youngest of them, a rookie with short black hair and equally short temper stepped forward, one hand on the grip of her weapon. "Anyone mind if I stun this guy?"

"Lana..." One of the others said warningly.

"Go ahead. It would prove how low the intelligence bar is for security personnel." Keele said, sloshing his foot through the building puddle of water they were standing in. "Use anything with electricity and we're all going to feel it."

She scowled, but Farah returning with the people that had been trapped in the back of the shop kept her from making a retort.

"Good to see someone made it out alright." One of the officers commented.

"Hardly alright. They need to be taken to the hospital right away. The back room was full of smoke and they've got some bad burns." Farah explained, a little calmer now that she knew someone had survived.

"We'll see to them, you should report to the Captain."

"Thanks." Farah nodded, turning to Keele. "Come on, you're still under arrest, remember?"

He sighed. "Don't remind me."

Keele rested his elbow on the desk, chin against his palm as the officer on the other side lectured about laws, hacking and some various other justice-loving drivel that he'd long since tuned out. If not for the tag labeled Bryenn on his chest, Keele wouldn't even have remembered the cop's name. As far as he was concerned, listening to this was cruel and unusual punishment for someone who had just helped put out a fire.

"Bry!" Farah shouted from a doorway on the other side of the room, getting the ranting officer's attention. "Take a breath. Keele, in here."

Rising and trying to recover the few IQ points he felt he lost after sitting through that with even feigned interest, Keele rubbed his forehead as he joined Farah in the other room. Stopping upon seeing what was waiting on the other side, he glanced at her. "Okay, no matter what I did, this is overkill."

Farah shook her head, grinning. "Nope, it's not. Just wait a second and you'll see."

Arching an eyebrow at her, he looked over the room. The Captain was in front of at least half a dozen other security officers, all watching him intently. "Wait for what, exactly? If you're going to dog-pile me, I got enough of that in elementary school, Farah. You should know that. Hell, most of the time you and Reid started it."

A few chuckles came from the group and Farah's face reddened. "W-Would you be serious? You've been-"

The lights dimmed and a monitor on the wall blinked to life. Every officer in the room fell silent and turned to it immediately, saluting the person onscreen. Keele just stared, not sure what to make of the display. Stepping into a part of the room the man on the monitor could see, Keele faced him and frowned.

"Who are you, then?"

"Keele! Show some respect!" Farah snapped.

He shot her a glare. "I'm not a cop and I've never seen him before in my life, so unless you give me a damn good reason I don't think I will."

Farah, and most of the other security members in the room, looked ready to attack him after that. The man onscreen, however, just laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about all that formal stuff. It's overrated anyway." He said, amusement in his voice. "It's not surprising you haven't heard of me, Keele Zeibel. I do my utmost to keep a low profile in spite of my position."

Giving him a curious look, Keele stepped forward. Even if he didn't recognize the face... that calm, professional voice. It was familiar, he just couldn't place it. "What position, and how do you know my name?"

"It's my job to know every resident of the Inferia Complex. I'm the one that oversees how things are run, what laws are put into effect and various other little things that help keep this place running smoothly." Brushing a stray long, blonde hair out of his face, he smiled. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Keele. My name is Rassius Luine."


	4. No Safety In Ignorance

"...and that's when when Nemo said 'I thought you'd have figured it out and learned something by now since it's such a simple error, not wasted two hours missing the obvious like a moron. Then again, it is _you_, so I'm not at all surprised.' Barbarius was pretty pissed after that!" Max said, laughing.

Chat frowned, taking a napkin to the sticky projectiles that had flown from Max's mouth and latched onto her shirt. "You know, I might be more interested in hearing about your questionably useful subordinates if you would _swallow_ before you go off on a tangent!"

"Oh, lighten up." He said, more bits of food escaping. "I've seen you covered with grease before and you didn't seem to care."

"The grease wasn't covered in your spit." She grumbled. "Now what did you want to talk about? I'm sure you didn't bring me along just to ramble on pointlessly... and if you did, I'll bash you over the head with my toolbox."

"Yeah, yeah." Max took a drink and turned as close to serious as he ever seemed to manage. "It's about that little project you're working on with Meredy."

Chat raised an eyebrow at him. "The Craymel program?"

"That's the one... have you told anyone about it?"

"I haven't, but Meredy told her friend Keele, the guy in the Inferian complex. They've been having a competition of sorts to see who can get it done first." She explained.

He nodded slowly, frowning and staring at his plate. "When they went over it, was the communication secure?"

"You'd have to ask Meredy to be sure, but I think so." Chat said, leaning forward and getting a bad feeling. "Why? What's going on?"

"I'm not sure." Max scratched his head. "There's nothing on official channels, but Ayla's somehow pieced together that someone might know about the project. Someone that could cause trouble."

"Trouble for who, Meredy or your little orginization?"

"Probably both."

Chat snatched him by the collar and pulled his face down level with her own. "Damn it, Max! I never even told her about that! I swear if anything happens to Meredy because they think she's wrapped up with you and Shileska-"

"I know, that's why I'm telling you now. For extra protection. I'll have my people keep an eye on security, if they start to make a move for Meredy, I'll get her out myself if I have to." He said, looking her right in the eyes. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to you or her because of my plans."

Glaring at him for a few seconds, Chat released his collar and stood up. "You'd better not."

Max spoke up as she started to walk off. "You haven't finished your meal, where are you going?"

She glanced over her shoulder. "Where do you think? To check on Meredy."

"Are you going to tell her anything?"

"The less she knows, the safer she should be, right? If that's true, I won't mention a word of it. If it's not..." A cold edge entered her voice. "...I'll tell her everything I know, regardless of what you think is best for Shileska and your crazy little plot."

xxx

Chat was approaching Meredy's door when it opened and she dashed outside, skidding to a halt just before they collided. Staring blankly at her for a moment, Meredy grabbed Chat by the shoulders and all but dragged her into her room.

"Hey, let go!" Chat demanded, wincing as she tried to follow. She never knew her friend had such a firm grip. Just on the other side of the door, Meredy closed it again and locked it. "What's the big idea?"

Her eyes drifted from the door to Chat, though they didn't seem to focus on anything. "Meredy doesn't know. The first was easy, but the second... Meredy can't understand it."

Chat sighed, rubbing her sore shoulders. "That's what this is about? Keele's past relationships?"

Raising an eyebrow, Meredy's eyes did focus on her this time. "Relationships?"

"Yeah, I know you liked him, and even if he is a jerk he's bound to have known a few girls before you." She replied with a shrug. "Besides, with the whole different complexes thing, it'd be impossible anyway."

That clueless expression remained. "What is Chat talking about?"

Chat hesitated for a moment, thinking either she missed something or Meredy was losing her marbles. "What are _you_ talking about?"

"When Meredy started the camera hack... didn't Chat notice?"

She rolled her eyes. "The girl sitting on Keele? Yeah, I noticed. Kind of hard to miss."

Meredy shook her head, pigtails waving wildly. "No, no, no!"

"You know what denial is, right?" Chat wondered.

"Meredy saw Farah, but that's not what she's talking about!" She said quickly, hair still whipping.

Chat just blinked at her. "What else was there to see?"

"Meredy's camera hack shows all locations viewing." She held up three fingers. "It showed three different addresses... Meredy's was third on the list. Inferia Security was second, and disconnected when Keele left with Farah."

"Okay, so who was the first?"

Meredy bit her lip, looking at the floor. "Nobody."

Chat scratched her head. "What do you mean, nobody? Someone had to set up the connection, didn't they?"

She nodded. "Meredy couldn't trace it. Location wasn't anywhere listed in Inferia or Celestia directories, even sealed ones."

Running this through her head, Chat tried to figure out what it could mean. "So... it came from somewhere outside both complexes? That's impossible, everything else on Eternia was wiped out, remember?"

Meredy nodded again. "Other possibility is that signal originated from Orbis itself, something within the system."

"Is that even possible?"

"Meredy doesn't know..."

"There has to be some kind of clue." Chat muttered, crossing her arms. "What was the location called, anyway?"

Meredy shifted her feet uncomfortably. "Balir."

Not a moment after she spoke, two things happened. Recognition flashed across Chat's face as she recalled hearing it mentioned before, and the door flew open even though she could have sworn it was locked. After that it was a blur. There was a loud crack and next thing she knew Meredy was on the floor, blood coming from her mouth. That alone barely registered in her mind before something smashed into the side of her head and everything went black.


	5. Unknown Assailants

The blonde man on the monitor continued to smile, but Keele didn't return the cheery expression. A deep frown was on his face, his brow furrowed as he wracked his memory. Why did this man's voice sound so _familiar _to him?

"I'm guessing you're curious as to why I've requested to speak with you?" Rassius asked.

Though it wasn't what was bothering him at the moment, that was probably because it had yet to cross his mind. Once said, Keele found himself just as interested about the answer to that. "For a start, yes."

Rassius' leaned forward slightly, apparently resting his arms on his desk though it was out of the picture's view. "Allow me to start with a question first. What do you know of Balir?"

Keele quirked an eyebrow at him. Sifting through his memory, something nagged at the back of his mind about the name. He thought he'd heard it before, but like Rassius' voice, he couldn't begin to place where it had come up. "Nothing comes to mind." He replied plainly.

"Balir is actually something of a mystery, even to myself. We are unaware if, at its core, it is an organization or a solitary individual. However, while the goal of Balir is unknown, we have learned first hand that it means trouble." Rassius explained, his expression turning serious. "The explosion you happened upon before arriving here? I have reason to believe Balir was behind it."

"What!" Farah exclaimed, bumping into Keele as she dashed up next to him. "Why the hell would-"

"Officer Orsted, restrain yourself!" A man behind Keele ordered loudly, most likely the Chief of the security force.

"There's no need for that, Chief. I quite understand her frustrations." Rassius said calmly, eyes drifting to her. "We know as much as we ever have, Officer Orsted. You know very well that most of the time, we have little to no warning about a target and even less explanation as to why something is chosen."

Keele was only half-listening after the second sentence, as it clicked something into place in his memory. Rassius' faint voice echoed in the back of his head from years ago. _I quite understand her frustrations... it's a tragedy when something such as this happens._ The voice, the same expression, even after so many years? No wonder he couldn't remember sooner. He glanced sideways at Farah, wondering if she made the connection as well. Probably not. She seemed to have done her damnedest to wipe the time from her mind.

He didn't. He _couldn't_. The flickering, staticy monitor they had been sitting in front of and voices coming from speakers as the sound wavered randomly from a novice hack job done in a short time. Farah going from his side to latched onto his shirt, sobbing. Then that voice. That damn voice delivering the news with such an even almost chipper tone, as if it didn't matter in the least.

_"I felt I should deliver this news personally. After many hours of searching, we have recovered your son's body. However, it saddens me to inform you that the young Hershel will be unable to return to you. I am sorry for your loss." Rassius said, his voice giving no hint of any sadness what so ever._

Anger flashed through him at the memory and he interrupted whatever Rassius had been saying to Farah. "Fine. Balir is bad, I get that. Now why don't you get to the point and tell me what any of this has to do with me?" Oblivious to the looks the security team was now giving to his back, Rassius showed no sign of irritation at the outburst.

"Oh, of course. I've heard of your talent with computers and was hoping to convince you to work with the Inferian force to stop him."

"I can understand that, knowing some of the people you're unfortunate enough to have working for you." He commented, recalling the stun-happy rookie and slowpokes to respond, as well as the ranting one he had to suffer through to what felt like an eternity. "Really though, what reason do I have to help you? None."

"Keele, how can you say that?" Farah shouted, grabbing his shoulder and turning him to face her. "If Balir was responsible for that explosion, people are in danger! You already proved you could help by saving those people in the back, they would have suffocated or burned alive if you hadn't fixed the sprinkler system!"

"I didn't fix it, I just turned it on." He corrected her. "Besides, this is a security thing, and in case you've forgotten, I'm a 'troublemaker' or 'repeat offender' according to most people here. I really doubt they want to give someone like me access to their files. Not that I couldn't get to them now if I _really_ wanted to have a look." He added with a smirk, if only to annoy the other officers in the room.

"Exactly, that's why we need your help! Even our best tech-heads have found nothing, but I bet you could get some new information easily." Farah told him.

A grin crossed his face, which made her scowl. "Most likely true, but if you're going for flattery you're going to have to do better than that."

"Don't start with me again, Keele."

"Yes, well, if helping fellow citizens of Inferia and sweet talking isn't enough to convince you, perhaps you'd do it to aid a friend of yours?" Rassius inquired.

"A friend?" He glanced from Rassius to Farah and back. "I don't know if I'd call someone who handcuffs me on a regular basis a friend."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "No, no... not Farah. I meant your other friend. Meredy, is it?"

Keele's full attention snapped to the monitor at that. "How do you know about her... and what does she have to do with any of this?"

"I research everyone I speak to personally. You and her have had contact almost daily, according to the communications records. I have a friend in the Celestian Complex myself, who keeps me informed of unusual happenings. Like, for example, a pair of girls going missing according to the security team over there recently. Ones named Meredy and Chat."

"W-what?" Keele stuttered, his blood running cold. Both of them? His mind was assaulted with questions and he couldn't choose which one to ask first.

Farah cut in and solved part of his dilemma. "Hold on, what do either of them have to do with this investigation? Balir's located in the Inferian Complex, isn't he? This can't be related."

Rassius nodded. "So I believe, yes, but our other half has been experiencing problems of its own as of late. While they've not come across the name Balir in their own investigations, they have heard about something called Shileska. A name just as unknown to them as Balir is to us."

"You think they're connected somehow?" The Chief asked.

"It's a possibility. Many have friends across the Complexes, it is not so far-fetched that Balir and this Shileska have formed an alliance of some sort. Of course, to what end, I cannot say. Though I feel it would not mean well for any of us." Rassius said, showing the slightest sign of frustration.

"How is anything I do _here_ supposed to help Meredy?" Keele wondered, stepping toward the screen. "From what you're saying, this Shileska is responsible for Meredy's disappearance, not Balir."

"If they are connected, once we find Balir I'm certain you can use its communications network to trace Shileska. We'll inform Celestia's security to their location, they'll raid the place and recover your friends. Hopefully with them still in one piece, of course, but time is of the essence." He said, a grin crossing his face that gave Keele the sudden urge to punch the screen. "You will be joining the search, correct?"

"Like you have to _ask_." He snapped back, stalking over to the nearest surface and removing his laptop from its case. Within moments he was mashing keys furiously, attention fixed to the computer.

"Well then, good luck to all of you. I'll continue with my part of the investigation as well." Rassius said, the monitor flipping off and lights raising again.

"All right, first things first. We've gotta get you security clearance to access our files on Balir." The Chief said, gesturing for one of the Officers in the room to do just that.

"I don't think that will be necessary." Farah informed him, looking at Keele's monitor. He was already into the files they had on Balir, what few there were. "Looks like he was right, security's security _does_ need a few upgrades."

xxx

Rassius sighed, leaning back in his chair and glancing to his right. The hooded man that had been there throughout the entire conversation leaned against the wall in silence, a guarded expression on his face. "Something wrong?"

"Shouldn't you have told him?" He asked, looking up. "If what we found out earlier is right..."

"It doesn't matter, really. I'd rather he not have the distraction." Rassius stated. "Besides, he's in the middle of the security station. If Balir really is targeting him, it'll have a hard time getting to him."

Crossing his arms, the man reluctantly nodded, not voicing his thought that no amount of guards could hold Balir back from someone it really wanted.


End file.
